from the Aramaic phrase avra kehdabra, meaning "I will create as I speak" - related to the word "abraxus", derived from the ancient Greek word for God. Possessing magical or sacred qualities--an incantation, spell, ritual or prayer.
"...the soul has wings as the white ship has sails, and the art of all arts is their unfolding..." A.E. Waite

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Friday, July 31, 2015

I listened, motionless and still; And, as I
mounted up the hill, The music in my heart
I bore, Long after it was heard no more.
William Wordsworth

Cumbria, Lakes District - July 2015

Heart+Mountain+Sun - Lenormand Revolution, Cartomancy

Illumination - Bank Ground Farm, Coniston

June was a fluid, almost unnerving month of augurs, visitations and signs. The Holy Longing was slowly unfolding and each time a starling arrived, or I met a serpent on the road, I realized the messages were stacking up, along with the challenge of how to best interpret them? I had contracted to do some tarot readings in July in the UK, but the Lakes District was not in the mix.

My "Shining Prince" - Vital Energy, Elixir of Life,Immortality

Viper on the road to Grassac

Le Serpent - Lenormand Revolution

I usually think about shedding an old skin when I see asnake; illusions and limitations, rejuvenation - wisdomand knowledge on one hand, treachery & deceit on another. Religious and mythical differences exist between snakes and serpents,but I'm not going to get into that here.

Photos Guido Mocafico: www.guidomocafico.com

In Revelation, Serpent = Beast/Devil

In Genesis, Snake jumpstarts the Sin-mobile

In the Lenormand cartomancy tradition, it is the Queen of Clubs:

could be a female rival or, an older, intellectual wise woman with glasses

full circle. "Surround" yourself with like-minded people, who will lift you up, or show you something you haven't dreamed of, like Diaz's mural below.

Mural - Alexis Diaz

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone. Rainer Maria Rilke

Earlier in June, we had three baby starlings on our window sill, making
a racket, whistling and screeching. Vocally talented they can mimic a
whole range of calls, songs & sounds like car engines, and fragments of human speech, weaving them into soliloquies. Mozart had a pet starling, purchased on May 27, 1784 from a pet store he frequented. He wrote down the melody whistled by the bird, which closely resembles his Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453, the last movement. The bird did make a key change and later research studies showed that mimicry in Starlings is less frequent than improvisation. When his little songbird died after three years, Mozart gave him a proper and solemn burial, commemorating the loss with a poem.

Starling waiting for his siblings

For some reason, these talented creatures have been much maligned, though prized in Netherlands, Spain and France as a food source. I came across a recipe for Starling Pâté...eeeeeek! Though it does have Armagnac and Juniper berries in it.

And it's locally produced

I don't know why, but it made me think of Clarice Starling from "Silence of the Lambs" - Chianti & fava beans.

Anthony Hopkins & Jodie Foster

Starling Nest

European Starling - Isn't he beautiful?

If you observe starlings closely, you can learn things about etiquette, social standing, family relationships. The intricacies of their vocalizations and nuances of communication, coupled with their clear, piercing expression, is a shining example of where one might take one's voice in the world. Their sensitivity to each other and how they work together as a unit in their airy world, reminds me of one of the interpretations of the Lenormand Oiseaux (Birds) card: "Divine Thoughts".

Le Petit Lenormand, Dondorf Deck

"Only we pass everything by like an exchange of air. And all is in
accord, to keep us a secret, perhaps half out of shame and half out of
some inexpressible hope." Duino Elegies, Second Elegy

I saw my first starling "murmuration", pre-roosting phenomenon, in a field in the Dordogne. I didn't have a camera, but I doubt I could have captured the exquisite ballet at dusk. I was swept away by the swooping and swirling; the sound like a wave or a small tornado and yet there was such a silence in the center of it. And I remembered the poem, "the Holy Longing," and words teetering on a cliff's edge, waiting to be borne, 20 years ago in Ireland. Such a stirring inside me; a holy listening.

Photo - Fayez Nureldine

Some say starlings are messengers from the spirit realms, signaling the end of one cycle and beginning of another. The Irish and Gaelic word for starling is "druid". See how it all fits together!

Murmurations of Starlings - Marseille, France

"Recently scientists have been able to apply high-powered video analysis and computational modeling to
flocks of starlings which has revealed patterns related more to physics
than biology. They describe the flocks with equations of "critical
transitions" - systems that are poised to be almost instantly and
completely transformed, like metals becoming magnetized or liquid
turning to gas. Each starling in a flock is connected to every other. When a flock turns in unison, it's a phase transition.
When a neighbor moves, so do you, and depending on the flock's size and
speed, member's flight physiologies, the large scale pattern changes.
What is not known is how criticality is created and maintained."

From Wired.com, Brandon Keim (Science)

Bank Ground Farm, Coniston, Lakes District, July 2015

Bank Ground Farm - Coniston

Later that day I received a text from Julie at Many Rivers in Langley, Wash., letting me know that there was a space opening up in David Whyte's Lakes poetry tour - with one small hitch: it was about two weeks away. It seemed impossible with all the commitments I had locked into place, here, there, everywhere. Travel arrangements, I'm so bad at them, I'm like Lucille Ball on steroids...and I don't have any of those nice flying perks, mile high clubs or extra miles to get 3 more inches of leg room in steerage. I started to check out trains, boats and planes...and waffled.

The next day I was coming back from doing some readings for a large group at a private house near Paussac and St. Vivienne, & I stumbled upon a Neolithic Dolmen, the Dolmen de Peyrelevade.

Dolmen de Peyrelevade - Paussac et St. Vivienne

And since I had my two decks with me I decided to pull some cards and see if I could get some clarity about pending travels. Oh, I forgot to mention, there was also a giant stone hand along the route.

Sarl Constant et Fils

And a Sanglier with a boot

8 of Wands - Swiftness

Sarl Constant et Fils

The Tower - XVI

I got the Tower in both decks + Swiftness. So the Fool (that's me) felt as if a lightning bolt had just opened up my inner eye and flashed a "Change" sign in Neon. The Tower is a card of revelation and liberation - so no pfaffing about.

Lenormand Revolution 7 card line reading

And as if all the augurs, signs, omens, murmurations etc. weren't enough, that night I had a "visitation" which cinched it all.

The rest of the story will have to wait for the next installment because tonight I'm reading the cards at the Vertaillac night market, and I must get my dog and pony show on the way. It is a Blue Moon a-risin' which should make for a very atmospheric evening.

In a mythical time, crow and weasel set out on a trip north. They
learn the value of friendship, the necessity of giving thanks, and a
respect for the land.

Remember on this one thing, said Badger. The stories people tell have a
way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them.
And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person
needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these
stories in each other's memories. This is how people care for
themselves. - Barry Lopez, Crow & Weasel

About Me

Thalia, who presided over comedy and idyllic poetry, is my Muse. Life goes down better with a dose of humor and poetry.
Grew up in the Midwest in the middle of a cornfield surrounded by books, chickens, horses, tomato plants, roses and an old pear tree. Named after my grandmothers: Ruth and Anne. Ruth brought out the Ouija board when I was 8 years old, and I've been listening to the whispers ever since. Lots happened in between then and now! Presto~ I am in France still surrounded by books, chickens et al, sunflowers replacing the corn and Tarot cards instead of a Ouija board. I like to look at the patterns, the poetic unity of a person--to follow the thread that exists below one's sight. The edge that is undefinable; the edge between two things where change occurs.
To make something out of one's own essence is to become what we love. Tarot is a tool for transformation; to help us cross thresholds and shape new destinies. And if we look in the right places we can change in an instant...Abracadabra!